This invention relates to the building of picket fences, and more particularly to the aligning of the picket tops during the building of such fences.
Property owners who wish to have a picket fence on their property, are desirous that the tops of the pickets are aligned in perfectly straight lines, between selected points along the fence at least, in order to present a neat and pleasing appearance. In order to aid the fence builder to achieve that end, and at the same time to minimize the cost of achieving that end, it is desirable that the builder have some form of reliable guide and method.
One method is to secure a taut string between suitable points along the fence as the pickets are installed. This involves the careful mounting of supports for the string in a manner to position the string in the plane of the pickets, in a manner to position the string the correct distance above the top rail, and in a manner to assure that the string will remain taut. One disadvantage is that, on a windy day, the string may be off line and may stretch and sag. Another disadvantage is that great care must be exercised by the builder in positioning the pickets, so that the string is not displaced by any one picket. This system then is unreliable, is difficult to work with, and requires additional time for the correct placing of the pickets.
It would be desirable to have a method, including the use of a good fixture, wherein the fixture may be simply placed on the fence and be self-supporting, wherein the pickets may be abutted against the fixture without concern for displacing the alignment guide or line, and wherein the fixture may be readily adjusted, and adapted for different rises of the pickets above the top rail of the fence.
A principal object of this invention is to provide a simple and effective means for aligning the tops of fence pickets in a straight line, during the building of a fence.
Another object of this invention is to provide such means which may be quickly and easily adjusted or changed to accommodate a different selected rise of the pickets above the top rail of the fence.
These objects are accomplished in a guide for securing pickets to the rails of a picket fence on which the pickets are secured to the rails with a selected rise above the top rail. The guide includes a beam having a straightedge lower face against which the tops of the pickets are to be aligned. The guide includes downwardly, extending legs at one end of the beam spaced to straddle and enclose the thickness of the fence top rail and a picket secured thereto, so that that end of the beam will rest on the top of the picket, and downwardly extending legs secured to the beam at the other end and spaced to straddle and enclose the thickness of the top rail. At this other end, a support block mounted between the legs has a support surface spaced from the beam face the distance of the selected picket rise.
These objects are also accomplished in a method for aligning the pickets of a picket fence which includes the following steps. One picket is secured to the rails of the fence with the picket top having a selected rise. A straightedge beam is supported over the fence top rail, having a lower beam face to be abutted by the tops of the pickets to be secured to the rails. One end of the beam is supported on the top of the secured picket. The other end of the beam is supported on the fence top rail by means of a support member mounted on the beam and spaced from the beam face a distance equivalent to the selected rise of the pickets.
The novel features and the advantages of the invention, as well as additional objects thereof, will be understood more fully from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.